On Love (Commentary on Plato's Symposium)

Still, if I have done wrong to make use of those principal accents, which are in truth the sound, the life, and the spirit of words; and which have been recognized by all the most prized languages, and have been used in their writings, because one cannot do without them in speaking: even if at the pleasure of the speaker, or the writer, they may vary, or place, or sign: If I (I say) have done wrong, then the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Latins have also erred: And each one deserves to be blamed for having obeyed those necessities that are difficult to escape: And for having together drawn utility from that which, standing without it, could not, and cannot even today be done except poorly: As for some time now the professors of the Greek language have demonstrated. Who, for the damage that it suffered, so that it might be pronounced and understood much better; brought into use all the accents, and every sign that could bring clarity to their writings. A thing certainly most useful in the birth, and in the better being of a language grown by force of Empire, like the Greek and the Latin: But without doubt necessary in their ruin, catchword: pa